Kaustav Ghosh
We have four Vedas ‘the Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva’. These four Vedas taught us conservation and protection of environment, environmental ethics. During the Vedic times people regards the environment with high respect and to protect the environment, animal was considered as holy duty.
As you have witnessed while following this blog that I love to dig deep all the holy book irrespective of religion. You may love to read this-
You may have followed my blog post on vedas and the principle of hinduism. You will find all of this in the religion category. I love to explore, learn and know what all those holy scripts talks about various issues which is still and always relevant. One of such issues is environment and its conservation cum protection.
In Atharva Vedas, Prithvi sukta, shlokas no. 12 says-
“mātā bhūmih putruahan pṛthivyā:’’
Meaning- ‘’Do not harm the environment, do not harm the water and the flora, earth is my mother, I am her son, may the waters remain fresh, do not harm the waters—-. Tranquility be to the atmosphere, to the waters, to the crops and vegetation.’’
This Vedic prayer invokes divine intervention to bliss and protect the environment. To protect environment the Rig Veda says-
“madhu vātāḥ ṛitāyate madhu kṣaranti
sindhavaḥ mādvih naḥ santuṣadhi.
madhu naktamutusāsu madhumatpārthiva rajah
madhu kṣorastu suryah mādhirgābo bhavantu naḥ’’
(Rigveda,1/90/6,7,)
Means: Environment provides bliss to people leading their life perfectly. Rivers bliss us with sacred water and provide us health, night, morning, vegetation. Sun bliss us with peaceful life. Our cows provide us milk). The plant ecology
has a great importance to keep the environment in balance.
The Vṛkṣāyurveda says that planting a tree is equally beneficial as having ten son-
“dasakūpa sama vāpi dasa vāpi sama hradaḥ
dasahrada samah putro dasaputra sama drumaḥ”
(Vrksayurvedah-5).
Tulshi, Pippala and Vatavṛkṣa have great importance in our culture. About the importance of Tulashi, Vatavṛkṣha there are many slokas are found in the vedic literature. Some of them are-
“jābadināni tulashi rūpitāpi jad gṛihe gṛihe.
tābadvarṣha sahasrāni vaikunthe sa mahīyate’’
(Vṛkṣhāyurveda-9).
The fire and Sun play the most significant role in the purification of environment. Animals and birds are part of nature and environment. The Vedic seers have mentioned about their characteristics and activities and have desired their welfare. Rig-Vedic seers classifies them in three
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